The present invention relates to a joystick apparatus, for example of a type for controlling the operation of electronic games by controlling movement of a cursor on a video screen.
Controllers are known which are designed for the purpose of providing player input signals to video game circuitry. The joystick type of controller typically includes a pivotally mounted manually movable joystick control arm and means responsive to movement of the control arm for generating signals, which signals are interpreted by associated video game circuitry as desired motion or position signals for movable player display objects. Some joystick controllers are designed to produce digital motion signals, and such controllers may include a plurality of contact switches positioned at the four quadrants of a circle for the purpose of providing x-y switch closure signals. Other joystick controllers are designed to produce analog motion signals, and such may include a pair of potentiometers, each having a driven rotary shaft that follows the motion of a joystick control arm along a particular orthogonal axis. A joystick controller typically also includes an additional push button and associated switch for generating fire control signals for performing various operations, such as for launching a missile, serving a tennis ball, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,021 to Nishioka et at. teach a joystick controller in which a bearing having a spherical bearing surface is in an opening in the center of a top wall of a controller housing. The bearing rotatably receives a spherical body to which a control shaft is fixed. A plurality of resistors are deposited in a selected configuration on a surface of a bottom wall of the housing. A pair of intersecting slidable members, each having an elongated guide slot and contactors at opposite ends thereof, is slidably movable in the housing, with the contactors in slidable engagement with associated resistors. A lower end of the control shaft extends through the guide slots of the intersecting members, and a universal joint operatively couples the lower end of the control shaft to a rotary disk having contactors. As the control shaft is pivoted in any direction to any tilt angle, the points of contact of the intersecting member contactors, with resistors representative of x-y directions, are simultaneously controlled in desired proportions. As the control shaft is rotated about its axis, the points of contact between contactors carried by the rotary disk and associated resistors are simultaneously controlled in desired proportions. The structure of the joystick controller is relatively complex.